I believe if you wanted to really hedge against the kind of scenarios that can render stock markets themselves worthless you would own a means of reliably producing electricity.
It doesn't need to be that much. You can build a small hydro planet for as little as 50k. It requires little maintenance and will last a hundred years (they are very efficient but uncomplicated machines). It is something your grandchildren would benefit from.
If you're interested check out Micro Hydro Design by Adam Harvey.
I have become convinced I must start a small tomato patch.
I encountered a dreadful tomato last week. It contaminated my BLT sandwich to a luricious point where even the bacon was no longer enjoyable. I don't think I'll ever buy a tomato under plastic wrap ever again.
I hear a litany of complaints from parents about paying for childcare, and also with paying for grandpa/grandma's nursing facilities. If you add up the costs and deduct them from salary + cost of living, very, very few middle class families are going to come out ahead.
It is expected (in my country) that a retirement home is so expensive it shall require the sale of the family home, so inheritances don't pass to the children or grandchildren.
I've worked before in nursing care facilities/retirement homes, and I'm certain most of the people there receive very little simulation and few visitors. It's a miserable and lonely existence.
I'm a fan of using markets for lots of things, but the market mechanism is overly used for this particular usecase and lots of people are under enormous strain because of it.
Basically the only case in which they ought to be used is in the final months/years where the person is too frail or incapacitated i.e. like state care systems.
tldr; I do not in fact believe it is economic. Additionally it damages a heap of other things ranging from cultural transmission (long term repercussions) to mental health on a personal level. It is a bad deal.
There is no need for a train. I'm sure you've heard of Tiny Houses.
The larger ones are roughly 8.5 ft wide (10-12 ft with wide permits), 32 ft long. This can be quite heavy, you should be able to move 7 - 10 tonnes.
The trick, I believe, is for each 'drop spot' to contain a plug 'n play slab of concrete with hookups for water/gas/electric/internet/sewer|septic. The slab would also have special formed features for ensuring a solid footing or 'floor feel' underfoot.
If you could come up with a 'USB' standard for what I'm calling drop spots, then it will be much easier for the kind of variability you mention.
"You are right that there is lot of evidence that the expectation of reciprocity strengthens the loop, but there is also evidence that non-cooperators can take
advantage of that expectation and ultimately weaken the loop; they break the virtuous circle of trust and trustworthiness. The sentence you cite signals the possibility of such conditions."
Which makes sense of course, parasitism is definitely a failure mode.
> Couldn't you argue that the majority of cars are built mostly with robots? There may not be a brake changing robot, but I bet there's a brake installing one. When it gets to the point that the automated labor is cheaper than or more efficient to the human labor, you'd see the switch.
For a different perspective you should look at Toyota's business model. And Moravec's Paradox.
The companies (mostly American) which follow the paradigm you're describing tend to have flashy but less valuable products because they break down more frequently. If you examine the car market you'll notice Toyota vehicles have a huge premium. This is because customers know they are reliable.
It is easy to say "oh, we won't be naive about automation, we'll do it properly", but in practice not many companies manage to do this because the savings from automation are an obvious win, the hiccups come later.
The adage 'birds of a feather flock together' is a true one. Our ability to communicate with each other relies most strongly on shared experience esp. with regard to normative behavior, thoughts.
I would not advise you to act as neurotypical but to seek out your own kind. That might not be easily found in collected pools of humans but to take a leaf out of the Major's book: 'The net is vast and infinite.'
How many of us have mentioned an obscure topic in passing on HN, and then been surprised by an erudite observation? Of course this does not always prevail, but it happens with enough frequency that I am convinced for each person there are companions.
To be less academic, if there are conventions for furries, then there are places in the world for you too!
It is frequently noted that geeks do much better at themed events with a purpose than at generic social outings. Less night club, more book club. The more object oriented the activity, the easier geeks get along. If you've been to a Hackerspace you'll know there is a wide range of interesting people at such places.
P.S. Every line cook I've known does claim to be in their own screaming hell.
As I see it, neurodiversity is more useful if the environment suddenly changes. In a stable environmental niche most forms of neurodiversity are probably a drawback.
For instance (reflecting on your examples) it should be obvious to us that the word 'crime' meant something much narrower several thousand (or hundred) years ago.
We have a positive surplus of intelligent ambitious people in Japan, Europe and America. What we don't have is savings or capital. This malaise is generational, not regional.
As much as I endorse concepts like Minimalism, Tiny Houses and Ride Sharing for reasons of practicality/economy, it should be abundantly obvious we're getting poorer.
It is not even subtle and a good portion of us are pretending it's about lifestyle choices.
If you would like to have a positive story this Christmas, then for Tiny Housers we had some Building Codes people formally include us into their thing. In the future it will be legal to live in Tiny Houses.
I believe if you wanted to really hedge against the kind of scenarios that can render stock markets themselves worthless you would own a means of reliably producing electricity.
It doesn't need to be that much. You can build a small hydro planet for as little as 50k. It requires little maintenance and will last a hundred years (they are very efficient but uncomplicated machines). It is something your grandchildren would benefit from.
If you're interested check out Micro Hydro Design by Adam Harvey.